The waxing and waning of mnemic neglect.

The mechanisms underlying mnemic neglect (MN) and the conditions under which it waxes and wanes are not yet fully understood. The research in this article examined conditions during both encoding and recall that could potentially moderate the MN effect and that could provide cues about the cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the effect. Results showed that MN: (a) emerged after recall was delayed (Study 1); (b) could not be attributed to differential behavior looking time (Study 2); (c) did not emerge under cognitive load (Study 3); and (d) was not linked to the perceived extremity, importance, or evaluations of the behaviors. However, how informative the behaviors were perceived for personality may contribute to the effect (Study 4). Finally, results from Study 3 and Study 4 showed that when participants were cognitively occupied during encoding, the MN effect waned. Implications of these collective findings for the MN phenomenon were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Multiple Behavior Descriptions Affect the Acquisitions of STI and STT.

Four studies pursued the idea that spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) involve the formation of both inferential knowledge and associative knowledge while spontaneous trait transferences (STTs) involve only the formation of associative knowledge. These studies varied the type and amount of behavioral information from which perceivers could extract trait information. Experiments 1a and 1b used a modified savings-in-relearning paradigm and demonstrated that repeated presentations of an individual and a behavior description increased the strength of association between the target and implied trait, and this effect did not depend on whether the repeated presentations involved redundant information or new information. In comparison, Experiments 2a and 2b used a trait ratings dependent variable and demonstrated that the effects of repetition were stronger for STI, but not STT, when the added information differed from information that was previously encountered, but not when it was redundant with the previously encountered information.

The Word Game: an innovative strategy for assessing implicit processes in parents at risk for child physical abuse.

OBJECTIVE: Contemporary theories of child physical abuse (CPA) emphasize the proximal role of social cognitive processes (many of which are implicit in nature) in the occurrence of parental aggression. However, methods that allow for the systematic examination of implicit cognitive processes during the course of aggressive interactions are needed. To address this need, the present study was designed to examine the utility of the Word Game, an innovative procedure designed to assess implicit changes in schema accessibility during the course of an interpersonal exchange involving aggressive response options. METHODS: The game involves a series of competitive reaction time trials which are actually lexical decision making trials designed to determine the accessibility of schema throughout the game. Each parent was led to believe that they were competing against another player with whom they exchanged sound blasts of varying intensities. Participants in the present study were parents who were either low (n=50) or high (n=20) risk for CPA. RESULTS: Results revealed that high CPA risk parents behaved more aggressively than low CPA risk parents and that provocation augmented the aggressiveness of all participants. Among high CPA risk parents, positive schema became less accessible (whereas negative schema became more accessible) following lost rounds. At the conclusion of the game, high CPA risk parents reported more aggressive motives than low CPA risk parents. Further, aggressive motives significantly mediated the association between CPA risk status and aggressiveness (i.e., mean sound blast selections). CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, results support the potential utility of the Word Game as a means of advancing the study of social cognitive processes involved in parental aggression.

Revisiting the issue of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory's internal consistency in adolescent samples.

PURPOSE: Although the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory is generally considered to be a reliable screening tool for assessing child physical abuse risk, there is concern that it may lack internal consistency when completed by adolescents (Blinn-Pike and Mingus, J Adolesc 2000;23:107-11). This concern has been reflected in subsequent reviews summarizing the CAP's psychometric properties (Walker and Davies, J Fam Violence 2010;25:215-27), and calls for data on the reliability of the CAP Inventory as completed by adolescents have been issued (Blinn-Pike, J Adolesc Health 2002;30:148). The purpose of this study was to provide additional data examining the internal consistency of the CAP Inventory as completed by adolescents in a variety of contexts. METHOD: This study included five samples comprising 3,281 adolescent and adult respondents who completed the CAP Inventory. Two samples included at-risk mothers who were enrolled in home-visiting services and were participating in program evaluations. Three samples included college students the majority of whom were nonparents participating in the research to explore the risk of physical abuse among children. RESULTS: The analyses showed high internal consistency estimates for the CAP Inventory abuse scale as completed by adolescent mothers (Kuder-Richardson reliability coefficient range = .90-.96). Moreover, regardless of the sampling technique, parental status, or demographic characteristics, our analyses revealed overall good to excellent internal consistency estimates for the CAP Inventory abuse scale as completed by adolescent respondents. Indeed, the internal consistency estimates obtained from adolescent respondents were similar to the estimates obtained for adult respondents in each of these same samples. CONCLUSION: Our results provide strong support for a claim of good to excellent internal consistency of the CAP Inventory with adolescent samples.